commercial real estate

1. Don’t return calls within 24 hours. People love knowing you’re a low priority.

2. Don’t ask for business. People are going to go out of their way and offer it to you, aren’t they? You’re nice!

3. Golf a lot. Rationalize it by convincing yourself you’re cementing a client relationship.

4. Check your email and blackberry constantly and reply to emails at all hours. It’s a great way to lose focus…it’s amazing how the days slide away and you realize you haven’t actually done any selling!

5. Convince yourself that you’re not a salesperson but a some sort of glorified consultant. Inflate your ego accordingly.

6. Take your clients for granted and don’t thank them for the business.

7. Don’t service listings. Put up a sign, put the building on the internet services like costar and loopnet, and forget about it. Hope the phone will ring. Don’t be proactive about marketing.

8. List everything in sight at whatever crazy sale price or asking rental rate your client wants. Running on the hampster wheel is fun!

9. Try to do residential and commercial real estate at the same time. Hanging onto that residential security blanket sure feels good.

10. Spend most of your time working with investor-buyers. Generate lots and lots of offers without any control over product.